Nerves on show as Murray falls

By Ossian Shine

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - The prizefighters of tennis punched their way out of trouble at the Australian Open on Monday but British hope Andy Murray was felled by a fierce right hand at Melbourne Park.

Serena Williams and Justine Henin fought off nerves and tricky conditions while Rafael Nadal survived an inspired opponent and Jelena Jankovic and Amelie Mauresmo clawed back from behind in first-round matches.

Murray, though, was helpless against French enigma Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

The British ninth seed, fancied as an outsider for the title, weathered withering blows in the first set, his legs wobbled in the second and, after a gutsy fightback, was sent to the canvas in the fourth, beaten 7-5 6-4 0-6 7-6.

"Didn't start off great," was the 20-year-old Briton's verdict. "He dictated a lot of points early in the match. I made a few mistakes there I shouldn't have made."

Second seed Nadal struggled with the cool evening conditions and Viktor Troicki, a Serbian qualifier in his first grand slam.

World number 126 Troicki had a set point at 6-5 in the first set and led 4-2 in the second, but Nadal fought back strongly to advance with a 7-6 7-5 6-1 win.

Sixth seed Andy Roddick served his way to a thumping 6-3 6-4 7-5 win over Lukas Dlouhy but men's 11th seed Tommy Robredo belonged in the strugglers' camp, needing four hours to down Germany's Mischa Zverev 4-6 2-6 7-6 6-4 7-5.

Spanish 16th seed Carlos Moya was not quite so lucky, though, the 1997 runner-up losing 7-6 6-7 7-5 6-4 to Austrian Stefan Koubek, while 18th seed Juan Iganacio Chela also bit the dust.

The scorelines for Henin and Williams were emphatic but third-seeded Serb Jankovic endured an almighty ordeal before seeing off Austrian teenager Tamira Paszek.

Against Jankovic, three match points came and went for 17-year-old Paszek, who served for victory five times in a third set which included 15 breaks.

Experience told ultimately, however, with Jankovic winning 2-6 6-2 12-10 in three hours 10 minutes.

"I was praying actually," Jankovic told reporters.

"Please, God, help me get out of the situation. And I didn't want to go home, that was what was driving me, what was pushing me to go forward."

Serena needed just an hour to dispatch Australian wildcard Jarmila Gajdosova 6-3 6-3.